


Vask

by mfingenius



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, Don't copy to another site, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:48:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21992407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mfingenius/pseuds/mfingenius
Summary: My fic for the Capri 2019 Reverse Bang. Featuring Rock Star!Damen and Bookshop Owner!Laurent.Gorgeous art by Cheeriosnuggles
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 199
Collections: Captive Prince Reverse Bang 2019





	Vask

**Author's Note:**

> [This](https://cheeriosnuggles.tumblr.com/post/189905644298/damen-nik-in-the-rockstar-au-for-the-2k19-capri) is the art! Go Like and Reblog, bc it's gorgeous!
> 
> Beta'd by the Sweetlialia :D

Damen laughs as they walk off the stage, ecstatic at the rush of adrenaline and serotonin that he always gets during concerts. All members of the band are in a similar state; Nik claps Damen on the back and Lazar runs a hand through his hair, grinning. The cheers outside are still deafening, but it all fades into the background when Damen catches sight of a particular blond head.

“Laurent!” He says.

Laurent turns to look at him, a scowl on his pretty face, and, immediately, his expression smooths.

“Damen,” He greets, small smile tugging at his lips. Damen grabs his hip and pulls him in for a deep kiss; Lazar gives a wolf whistle, Kashel smacks Damen on the back of the head, Nikandros scowls, and Auguste gags loudly. 

“ How long are you here for, this time?” Damen asks. He’s hopeful that Laurent will stay more than a few days. Because of the band, Damen travels a lot, especially when on tour, which means that, though they live together, they don’t see each other in person very often; Damen spends all of the time he has with Laurent showing him how much he loves him, and pampering and spoiling him as much as he can.

Laurent grins. “Two weeks.”

“ _ Two weeks _ ?” Damen gasps, mind already reeling with how many things they can do while his boyfriend is here. Fuck, but if Laurent is here an entire two weeks, Damen can propose; he’s been planning it for six months now, and he thought he’d do it once the tour ended, in another four months, but if Laurent is here…

Laurent nods. “I took two weeks off to see you.”

Laurent owns his own bookshop – which started as a tiny, lost thing by an alley, but by now has grown a lot more than expected – and, therefore, can technically take off time whenever he wants; he gets lonely without either Damen or Auguste, though, so he typically doesn’t take vacations.

“Right, you took two weeks off to see  _ him _ but not me.” Auguste says, offended.

“I’m here to see you, too,” Laurent says, smiling and rolling his eyes. He extracts himself from Damen’s hold – something Damen doesn’t really  like but will allow because he knows it’s ridiculous – and hugs Auguste.

“I missed you, brat.” Auguste says into Laurent’s hair, hugging him tightly.

“I missed you, too,” Laurent says. He squeezes Auguste tighter, and then lets go. He says hello to Lazar and Kashel too with short hugs.

The second the hugs are over, Damen is grabbing Laurent’s hip again, pulling him close and pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

Nikandros, predictably, had disappeared the moment Laurent had shown up. Damen can’t quite understand why,  but no matter what he does, he can’t seem to get them to get along. It’s never been a problem before; Nikandros has disliked many of Damen’s exes, but he was always civil to them. With Laurent, however, it’s like he can barely stand him; he doesn’t speak to him, he avoids him, and avoids the subject with Damen like talking about it will give him the plague.

Damen needs to talk to him about it.

“Take a shower,” Laurent says, pressing a quick peck to his lips before he leans closer and stands on his tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “And get us somewhere private. Now.”

Damen grins and squeezes his boyfriend’s hip before pressing another, much deeper kiss to his lips.

“Done,” he says. “Give me five minutes.”

*

Laurent finds Nikandros while trying to find Damen’s bed.

“Nikandros,” he says, nodding lightly.

Nikandros glares at him , and Laurent pretends not to notice it, busying himself with leaving his bag on Damen’s bed.

“Are you going to be sleeping here?” Nikandros is scowling.

“Where else would I be sleeping?”

Nikandros doesn’t respond, and Laurent sighs. Honestly, he  hasn’t tried very hard to get him to like him, but it’s not like Nikandros has behaved any better. He’s unreasonably rude to Laurent, and it  makes Laurent feel a little…  inadequate , if he’s being honest. He’s in love with Damen, and to be constantly  reminded that  he’s not good enough for him – and Laurent knows that that’s what Nikandros thinks, if the looks he gives both him and Damen when they’re together are any indication  – is  exhausting.

Not that he’d ever admit it out loud.

No, out loud, he flips Nikandros off,  insults him, and/or kisses Damen to make a point that he’s not going anywhere.

And he’s  _ not _ . Despite what Nikandros might’ve thought, Laurent won’t let his hostile looks or the nights spent alone drive him away from the love of his life.

“Hey,” Damen ’s only in a towel, and  he presses his lips to Laurent’s in a long kiss. Laurent bites back a whimper,  reminded of just how long they’ve spent apart.

Nikandros makes a disgusted sound, and Laurent tenses, pulling away. Damen’s frowning. Of course, Damen being Damen, he smiles  sheepishly and tries to defuse the tension.

“What are you feeling like doing?” He asks, pressing another kiss to Laurent’s forehead. “ We can go to a park. Have a picnic.”

“It’s  three in the morning ,” Nikandros says.

Laurent ignores him. “I doubt we’ d get much privacy.”

Damen grins at him. Laurent fights back the urge to trace his dimple. “Is that what you want? Privacy?”

“I want to spend time with you,” Laurent says sincerely. “I don’t care how.”

Nikandros makes another disgusted noise and leaves. Laurent  ignores  him in favor of kissing Damen again .

*

“We should get out of bed soon,” Laurent hums, moaning lightly when Damen bites at  one of the hickeys on  his neck before kissing the purpled skin softly.

They’re all from last night; they hadn’t seen each other in eighty-three days, and  though Damen adores Laurent’s pale skin, he likes it better when he has his marks on him. He’d usually be ashamed of being so openly possessive, but he can’t help it, not when he goes so long without seeing  the love of his life .

“We don’t need to do anything,” Damen murmurs against his collar bone. “We can stay here for however long we want.”

Laurent laughs breathlessly. They both know it’s not true; Damen’s still technically on tour; they have to head out on the bus in only a few hours, and , in three days, they have to take a plane.  It’s less than ideal – less than Damen wants; he wants to be able to spend every second he has with Laurent  – but it’s what they have, so they’ll make the most of it, as they always do.

“I don’t think your fans would approve of that,” Laurent points out in a whisper, running his hand through Damen’s curls softly. Damen kisses  his sternum and tightens his arms around Laurent’s waist . 

“I don’t care.”

“You do,” Laurent says. He sighs and pushes himself up on his elbows , grabbing Damen’s chin to pull him into a deep kiss. “Come on.” He gives a lopsided grin. “We can shower together if you want.”

Da men immediately brightens at the prospect, and then scowls. “I – there’s something I have to do. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

“Alright,” Laurent says, easily enough. “I’ll be in the  tub when you’re ready.”

Damen rolls off him – as much as he’d rather not – and watches as Laurent gets up , smacking his ass as soon as he stands. Laurent laughs loudly and gives a wink over his  shoulder, leaving Damen to watch as he  saunters to the bathroom.  Damen grins and rubs a hand over his eyes. 

*

“ We need to talk,” Damen says.  Nik sighs and rubs at his eyes tiredly. He’s still in pajamas, and his hotel room’s a mess; Damen steps in anyway.

Laurent had wasted no time getting into the bathtub – Damen had gotten to enjoy the sight of his boyfriend preparing a bubble bath – and as much as Damen  _ wishes _ he weren’t here instead of with his very naked boyfriend, he needs to get this out of the way. 

“No Laurent this time?”  Nik asks sardonically .

Damen frowns and sits next to his best friend on the bed ;  his notebook – the one he uses specifically to write songs – is open beside him, but the second Damen sits down, he closes it quickly and pushes it away. Damen doesn’t press;  Nik has never liked them seeing the songs before they’re finished.

“Why do you hate him?” Damen demands. Nik looks up at him, and he looks so surprised Damen nearly thinks he’s wrong; he’s not though, he knows. He’s seen the way Nik looks at him and Laurent when they kiss, has seen him disappear from virtually every room Laurent  walks in to . “ Fuck, Nik, I don’t need you to  _ like _ him, but we’ve been dating for  nearly two years. You could at least tolerate him.”

“Does it matter?” Nik asks bitterly. “He’s just another one of your flings. He’ll be gone  soon .”

It’s  Damen’s turn to be surprised this time;  Nik ’s assumptions aren’t  entirely unfair . Damen has never been stellar at long-term relationship s . His longest relationship was  with Jokaste –  six months, much longer  Damen’s previous longer relationship, which lasted eight weeks – and , by now, he’s in entirely uncharted territory with Laurent.

“He won’t be.” He says, firmly. “This isn’t – he’s different Nik. We’re not breaking up.”

Nik looks at him, then, and the disbelief is clear on his face when he says, “You mean it.”

“ _ Yes _ .” Damen says. “What did you think I was doing for two years ? Messing around?”

Nik ’s shoulders are tense, and he purses his lips and shifts lightly like he might want to flee.  Damen won’t let him.

“He’ s… pretty .” Is the only thing he says. “I thought  that was it.”

Damen won’t lie; when he first met Laurent, at the afterparty of one of his concerts, it had been his beauty that had pulled him in , but it hadn’t taken very long of talking to him to realize that Laurent’s beauty was almost an afterthought to the rest of his personality;  his excitement over  things that Damen had previously thought relatively meaningless had been what had made Damen  talk to him a second time. His quiet smile,  a third time, the light in his eyes a fourth, the flick of his wrist when he  flipped Nik off a fifth. And so on, and so on, Damen had found new things to fall in love with,  new things that seemed intent on joining his seemingly endless list of reasons why he loves Laurent.

“ He’s –  _ him _ .” Damen says, unable to describe it in another way.

He hadn’t known Laurent was Auguste’s little brother the first few times they’d met; to be honest, he’d been so entranced by him that he hadn’t bothered to ask him who he was with or how he was invited to those parties. By the time he’d found out, he’d been in too deep to back out then, even if he’d wanted to. 

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” Nik says finally. He’s not looking at Damen.

“I want you to try to get along.” Damen says. “ I want you to understand that he’s not going anywhere . I love him, and you’re my best friend. I  _ want  _ you to  at least try to stand a conversation with him .”

Nik sighs and rubs a hand over his face. “ I  – I’ll try.”

Damen shrugs . “That’s all I ask.”

*

The tour bus isn’t  _ small _ , but Laurent doesn’t like to be in it. His and Damen’s apartment isn’t big – Laurent hates the idea of being alone all the time in a big place, so their apartment will stay small until Damen is around more – and Laurent  has never been particularly claustrophobic, but the bus feels smothering.

“ Everything alright?” Damen, of course, notices. Laurent’s in his lap – Damen had pulled him there the second he’d sat down – and Damen’s arms are wrapped soothingly around his waist; it’ s the only reason Laurent isn’t freaking out.

“Yes,” he says, pressing a kiss to Damen’s lips. He’s missed this too much; ever since he was a child, he’d sworn to Auguste that he’d  _ never _ have a  girlfriend or a boyfriend. He used to say that as long as he had books, animals, and his brother, he didn’t need anything else. 

It remained true most of his life . Even when Auguste began to go on tours as the band became more and more successful,  the bookshop  had kept Laurent sufficiently happy. 

Meeting Damen had changed everything, of course. It’s terrifying, thinking about it sometimes; he’d realized how dependent he’d become of Damen when he’d left on tour for the first time after they’d started dating. It had been  a punch in the gut that had almost led to Laurent ending the relationship out of pure panic of loving someone so much, especially someone who had Damen’s lifestyle and reputation.

He hadn’t, though, and Laurent has never been happier that he  _ hadn’t _ done something in his life.

“ Not getting bored of our boy, here, are you Laurent?” Lazar grins from where he’s sitting. “Because you know I’d love to provide entertainment.”

Damen squeezes harder around his waist – and Laurent almost laughs – and scowls, at the same time that Auguste smacks Lazar upside the head.

“That’s never going to happen.” He says, without looking up from the book he’s reading.

“So Damen has your blessing to date your baby brother, but I don’t?” Lazar pouts. “I’m hurt, Auguste, I am.”

Auguste rolls his eyes. “Damen doesn’t have my  _ blessing _ .”

“He doesn’t need it, either.” Laurent says, rolling his eyes. Even though he loves Auguste – and he does, with all his heart  – he can get a little overprotective sometimes, same as Damen, and they need a reminder that Laurent can not only take care of himself, but  make his own decisions. 

Auguste makes a non-comital hum, and Damen rolls his eyes lightly and pulls Laurent closer.  Auguste had been entirely against Laurent dating Damen at first – and not because he doesn’t like Damen, mind, they’re practically brothers – b ecause he’d thought that it’d mean much more of Laurent than it would for Damen. 

He’d been proven wrong, though.

“ And you don’t want to date him, you want to fuck him.” Kashel says, rolling her eyes; Laurent likes her. She’s – by far, in Laurent’s opinion – the smartest person in the band.

“ So did Damen, at first.” Lazar points out. “So does  _ everyone _ .”

Damen tenses behind him, and Laurent rubs tiny circles with his thumb on his boyfriend’s forearm.  He doesn’t know what caused Damen to react now; he’s seen the way people openly flirt with  Laurent , he’s heard the comments behind Laurent’s back  – he beat up a man once for  saying something vulgar ; to this date, Laurent doesn’t know what it was  – and though it always bothers him, it generally doesn’t bother him enough to react. He knows Laurent loves him, and only him.

“ I didn’t.” Damen defends. 

_ Ah _ , Laurent thinks,  _ that’s what bothered him. _

Kashel and Lazar begin bickering about what’s  _ polite  _ to say in conversation, Auguste eventually joining in. Laurent pays them no mind.

He smirks slightly and rubs his nose against Damen’s .

“I don’t mind if you did,” he murmurs. What matters is that he doesn’t now.

“I didn’t.” Damen repeats, tense. Laurent frowns lightly. 

He’s thinking of something to say when Nikandros walks in and drops himself into the seat behind Lazar’s. Damen looks at him uncertainly, and Nikandros clears his throat.

“Laurent,” he says. “How’s the bookshop?”

Everyone stops talking , and Laurent freezes with his hand halfway to stroking Damen’s hair. He looks at Nikandros suspiciously; the man looks distinctly uncomfortable, and he looks as though he’d rather do anything other than  this. Still, he’s doing  _ this _ . 

It’s freaking Laurent out.

“ Well,” He says cautiously. “How’s… life?”

He really doesn’t know enough about Nikandros to make small talk. He’s always seemed to hate Laurent, right from the very beginning of his and Damen’s relationship, so Laurent’s never gotten to know him. 

“Well,” Nikandros responds stiffly. He looks at Damen as if to ask, ‘ _ is this enough _ ?’.

Laurent sees Damen frown lightly and give a little nudge of his chin. Nikandros sighs deeply.

“And how is  – _ Coats _ _? _ ” Laurent’s heart clenches in bitter grief, and for a moment he needs to simply stop doing everything. He sees Damen shaking his head frantically at Nikandros, and he rolls his eyes fondly, bittersweet feeling in his chest.

“He passed away  a couple months ago .” He says .

Coats had been Laurent’s cat  since he was three, and he’d lived  seventeen years before passing away when Laurent was twenty. He’d been inconsolable; it had happened  the day before Damen had visited, and he’d spent  every night they had together holding Laurent while he cried . It doesn’t hurt less now, but at least Laurent can think about Coats without  immediately sobbing .

“Oh,” Nikandros says awkwardly. Auguste, Lazar, and Kashel are all staring at the odd interaction with narrowed eyes. “I’m – sorry.”

“ Thank you,” Laurent says politely.

“I love you,” Damen murmurs, rubbing his nose lightly over  the top of  Laurent’s head . He’s taller than Laurent, even while Laurent’s sitting in his lap. It’s  both comforting and immensely infuriating .

“ I love you, too.” Laurent murmurs back . He kisses Damen deeply, ignoring Auguste’s gag and Lazar’s wolf-whistle. 

Nikandros’s expression bitters.

*

“Where are we going next?” Laurent’s whisper is a quiet, almost soundless thing, but Damen still hears him. Damen always hears him.

“Delpha.” He murmurs back. They're in his bed in the tour bus, and it feels so good to have Laurent with him again. He can’t get enough of it, kissing his forehead and his temples, hugging him close and not letting him go. “And then we’re taking a plane to Ios.”

Laurent hums. They’ve both been pathetically clingy since Laurent arrived, but Damen doesn’t have it in him to feel ashamed about it; this is the man he loves most in the world, so if he wants to spend every second with him in the rare few times they see each other, fuck it. He’s going to, no matter what everyone else thinks about it.

“ I was thinking we could go to _ Prodigy _ again .” Damen says lightly. Laurent frowns.  _ Prodigy _ is Delpha’s most exclusive nightclub; it’s where they met, the first afterparty Laurent attended, but they haven’t been back together since .  Damen has, in the next two  tours, but Laurent hasn’t accompanied him in either occasion. “There’s a big party after the last concert in Delpha.”

“Alright,”  If Laurent is quite honest, h e’d rather spend the night with Damen  alone, having dinner, or cuddling  in a hotel, or just  _ being  _ with him. He’s not a big fan of crowds, and he knows Damen knows; still, Damen  has always been a particularly thoughtful person, not just to Laurent, but to everyone. Laurent knows that if he’s asking him to go, it must be important to him.

Damen kisses his forehead. “I know it’s not your idea of fun, but I promise you’ll like it.”

Laurent doubts it. Still, he says, “I trust you.” 

Because he does. He trusts Damen more than anyone – with the exception, perhaps, of Auguste – and if Damen told him it was going to be fine, he’d follow him off a cliff, blindfolded and bound, no hesitation.

He doesn’t quite trust that part of him, and he hopes – more than anything – that Damen will never take advantage of it.

“ I love you,” Damen murmurs.

“I love you, too.”  Laurent whispers, impossibly quiet.

“If you two aren’t going to fuck then shut the fuck up,” Lazar says gruffly from his bed. “I want to sleep and you’re giving me cavities.”

“I’ll break your nose,” Damen warns in the dark, and Laurent laughs quietly.

*

Nikandros’s attempts to get along with Laurent are stiff and brief, but at least they’re constant.  Laurent knows it’s  entirely for  Damen’s benefit , is under no impression that this is in any way because Nikandros’s feelings for him have changed, but he doesn’t  care .  He knows Damen talked to Nikandros – there is no other  explanation for the attitude change – and, he figures that, if  Nikandros can at least attempt to be civil, he can, too. 

For Damen.

H e doesn’t entirely reciprocate  – he doesn’t like many people, trusts even less so, and after everything that’s happened, he doesn’t  think he’ll  _ ever _ like Nikandros – but h e answers without sarcasm or biting wit if he can manage it.

Damen seems happy, and really, that’s what Laurent wants.

Still, something that keeps happening – and Damen doesn’t notice this, because he’s particularly blind to  the flaws of his loved ones – are the  _ looks _ . Nikandros can play nice all he wants, but Laurent still sees the quiet, disgusted grimace whenever he and Damen show any sort of affection to each other.

It makes Laurent feel a little worse every time;  he forgets about that feeling whenever Damen pulls away from the kiss, looks at him with so much  _ adoration _ in his eyes it’s impossible to believe he’s anything but worthy.

“ Don’t  get too far  from me now,” Damen murmurs, pressing his lips against Laurent’s knuckles.

Laurent smiles fondly . “I’m not.”

“ Liar,” Damen says. He kisses Laurent’s knuckles again, then his lips, and then his forehead. Then he stands. “ I really have to get out there.”

The noise is deafening; even backstage, Laurent can hear the screaming of the fans outside,  waiting to see the concert, waiting to hear Damen sing. Kashel plays the drums, and Nikandros and Auguste play the bass and the electric guitar respectively. Lazar  plays the electric violin.

“ Go,” he says, smile on his face. “They’re waiting for you.”

“I love you,” Damen kisses him again, and, a moment later,  he walks onto the stage, the rest of the band following close behind him.  The cheering gets louder, and, soon enough, he hears Damen say into the microphone, “Hello, Delpha!”

He smiles privately and goes to sit  on the floor, leaning against the wall near the changing rooms , where it’s quiet.

“ He llo, your Royal Highness .” Laurent looks up to see the only person who calls him that. Vannes has been Vask’s – Kashel won a coin toss and got to name the band  – agent since the start; she’s young, older than Laurent but younger than Damen and Auguste, and they get along well.

“I’ve told you not to call me that,” He says . She likes  to address Laurent like that since she found out his great-great-great Grandmother was Arles’s queen before the monarchy collapsed.

“I know,” Vannes says, grinning. She’s wearing  a black suit with a white striped shirt underneath, and she has lipstick on her neck. It only serves to cement further Laurent’s suspicion that her and Kashel are fucking. “ Heard you’re with us for two whole weeks this time. What did Damen do to earn it? Blow you? ”

“ As if ,” Nicaise sits on Laurent’s other side. He has blue eyes, freckles, and an upturned nose that ’s been broken more than a few times because of his inability to keep his mouth shut.  Laurent snorts and rolls his eyes. 

“Should’ve known you’d show up,” He says. Nicaise is barely eighteen, but he’s got a sharp mind and sharper tongue . Despite their mutual rudeness, Laurent enjoys his company; he feels like Nicaise is the only one he does not have to hold his barbed comments back with, because Nicaise responds back in kind. He’s also Laurent’s only company for months at a time, whenever he visits Arles. “ Vannes, if you think I took two weeks off from work  because of a blowjob, you clearly know nothing about me. Or blowjobs.”

Vannes shrugs. “A  _ really _ good blowjob.”

Nicaise snorts. “ No thing’s  good enough to tear Laurent away from his work when he’s into it . He’s a  bore .”

“ I’m not a bore ,” Laurent says. He’s not; he likes quiet evenings and  the comfort of his bookshop, but he’s not  _ boring _ . Plus, he knows Nicaise likes that , too. He’s Vannes’s apprentice, of sorts, but he visits Laurent often, and Laurent knows he enjoys the calmness of the bookshop more than he lets on. “You love the bookshop.”

Nicaise makes a rude gesture, but he doesn’t deny it.

“ How’d he convince you, then?”  Vannes nudges his shoulder. She gasps dramatically, “Are you pregnant?”

“Ha ha.” Laurent says, deadpan , frowning. “He didn’t  _ convince  _ me. I wanted to see him, he’s my boyfriend.”

“Unlikely,” Nicaise says. “Are you finally breaking up with him?”

“Are you sick?”

“Are you  _ dying _ ?”

“Are you leaving him for Nikandros?”  Vannes asks.

“Why the  _ fuck _ would I leave him for Nikandros?” Laurent asks before he can help himself. 

“He’s right,” Nicaise says dismissively. “He’s too stupidly in love with  the giant animal to see it.”

“Don’t call him that.” Laurent says. Nicaise always calls Damen that, and Laurent always tells him not to, and Nicaise never listens. It’s a permanent loop. “ And I don’t know how you ever got the idea into your head that anything would happen between Nikandros and me. I hate him, and the feeling is mutual.”

Plus, Nicaise is kind of right. He  _ is _ stupidly in love with Damen; still, he doesn’t need that pointed out.

“ Yeah, right.” Vannes snorts.

Laurent’s frown deepens. “I’m not lying.”

Vannes stares at him, and then both her and Nicaise share a  _ look _ . 

“Oh,” She says.

“ _ Oh _ ,” Nicaise echoes.

“ _ What? _ ” Laurent snaps irritably.

“You don’t know,” Nicaise’s voice is turning smug now. “You  _ really _ don’t know. I mean, I expected it from the giant animal, he’s entirely unobservant, but you’re supposed to be  _ smart _ .”

“ What the hell are you talking about?” Laurent asks. 

“Nicaise, if he doesn’t know-” Vannes hesitates. She’s as sharp-tongued as Nicaise, but not nearly as heartless. Nicaise is like Laurent, in that way, sometimes too caught up in what he knows and or stuck in his own head  to realize he might be hurting other people. Laurent thinks it’s a trait he’s grown out of; he’s not entirely sure, sometimes.

“ Nikandros is in love with you,” Nicaise says, smug to have figured it out before Laurent did. “He writes songs about you.”

Laurent blinks.

Looks at Nicaise’s unrepentant face.

Blinks again. 

“He’s not.” He says. Nikandros  _ hates _ him. He doesn’t think Laurent’s good enough for Damen, he thinks Laurent is after Damen’s money or fame, or he thinks Laurent is somehow less in love with Damen than Damen is with him – which Laurent is pretty sure is impossible at this point – or whatever else that goes through his mind, but whatever it is, it’s not  _ love _ .

“ It’s all over his song book.” Vannes says hesitantly. “His songs are all about you.”

Laurent shakes his head. They’re wrong – they have to be – and even if they weren’t, it wouldn’t matter to Laurent;  he doesn’t care about Nikandros – however heartless it might sound  – but he cares about Damen. He cares about  _ Damen _ , and he  _ knows _ that , while this means next to nothing to him, it won’t be as  meaningless for Damen.  In fact, it will be  very,  _ very _ meaningful for Damen.

After Jokaste cheated on him with his brother,  Laurent thinks that finding out  his best friend is in love with his  boyfriend will be… repetitive. So he makes a choice then and there.

“You can’t tell Damen about this.” He says.

“We weren’t planning to.”  Vannes says quickly. The twist in Nicaise’s mouth tells a different story, but, as cruel as Nicaise can sometimes be, Laurent doesn’t think he’ll do  _ this _ . “We thought you knew. ”

Laurent didn’t.

“Don’t tell Damen,” he repeats.

Vannes nods hesitantly.

*

“Are you alright?” Damen’s wearing a  leather jacket , and his hair is still wet from the shower after the concert. “You’re tense.”

Laurent ’s frown is constant, but he’ d complied with Damen’s plan easily enough ; he turns his head and presses his nose against Damen’s chest. W ith Damen’s arms wrapped around him like this, it’s the only place he can reach.

“I’m fine .” He says.  His hands flutter at his sides, eager to take off the blindfold Damen had put on him, but he doesn’t do it; he trusts Damen enough not to.

Damen presses a kiss to his hair. He knows Laurent doesn’t want to go to  _ Prodigy  _ for the afterparty.  _ He _ doesn’t want to go to  _ Prodigy _ for the afterparty, which is exactly why they’re not.

He’d thought of proposing there ; it’s where he first met Laurent, and it  he’d thought it only right to propose there, too.  He’d quickly realized, of course, that it wouldn’t be right. Sure, it’s the place they met, but it’s not significant, not really. It doesn’t represent what Damen wants it to, a future together.

“I love you,” Damen says. Laurent’s flushes happily .

“I love you, too.” He says. Then, “I’d love you more  if you  let me take this damned thing off. Or if you told me where we’re going.”

“It’s a  _ surprise _ .” Damen says.

“I thought we were going to the afterparty.” Laurent says.

“ I changed my mind,” Damen says easily.

Laurent grumbles under his breath, but lets Damen lead him down the street.  “Steps , I’m going to carry you.”

Laurent makes a rather undignified sound as Damen easily picks him up by the  waist and carries him , and his cheeks turn scarlet when he puts them down.

“Where the hell are we?” He asks.

Damen grins brightly.

“Take off the blindfold.”

*

Laurent’s eyes take a few seconds to adjust to the lighting.  He blinks quickly to adjust. There are three dozen candles lit around the room; it’s spacious, windows huge. The floor is wood – and he really should be worrying about the fire hazard – and the ceilings are tall, but he can’t  _ think _ about any of it because when he turns Damen is on one knee in front of him . He’s holding a black box.

“ What is this?” He asks. His voice sounds tiny.

“Laurent DeVere,” Damen’s grin is blinding. He’s radiating, somehow,  shining.  He has the sort of personality that fills a room and brightens any place he’s in , the type of personality that causes happiness simply by being near it.  “I love you more than anyone else. I love you more than I thought I  _ could _ love anyone else. And I know that there’s nothing and no one that I want to spend my life with more than with you. You make it better, all of it, whenever you’re around, if I can touch you, if I can kiss you, nothing else matters. ”

“Damen,” Laurent whispers. “I love you so much.”

“I love you , too, sweetheart.”  Damen grins. “ I bought this place  for you. It’s – you can use it to open another bookshop. I thought you  might want to –  I know  we’ve been living in your apartment, but we could get a place together, here in Delpha. Or not,” he rushes. “I just wanted it to be representative. I wanted you to know that wherever it is we live in,  you’ll open your bookshop again. Even if we stay in Arles,  you can open another bookshop here.  I just-” he grins nervously. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling. Will you make me the happiest man in the world and-”

He’s not even done with the question before Laurent launches himself at him,  crashing their lips together.

*

“ Congratulations!” Damen’s grin is the brightest thing in the room, closely followed by Laurent’s much quieter, much more discreet grin. He’s wrapped under Damen’s arm,  cheeks flushed and eyes shining.

The y’ve gone through three bottles of champagne, and are somehow still toasting. Auguste is practically bouncing with excitement, and he’d hugged Laurent for the longest time after they’d announced it.  Kashel , Vannes, and Lazar had both made lewd comments after congratulating them, and  Nicaise had gagged, which had made Damen ruffle his hair. Nicaise did not appreciate it.

Nikandros is sitting in a corner of the room.

Laurent doesn’t look at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you liked it babes :D Find me on tumblr @mfingenius


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